No rift with Ian Holloway, says Crystal Palace chairman

There has been talk of unrest at Selhurst Park, with reports of division between the board and the manager and the manager and the squad.

Parish, however, insists Palace are happy with their man, with harmony reigning in south London.

“Ian and I spoke 123 times on the last day of the transfer window,” said Parish. “When reports came out that we weren’t talking, that the board were unhappy and all that sort of stuff, we were in constant communication, at least 10 times a day.”

As for the rumours, Parish added, “I can’t give it a moment’s credibility. It’s ridiculous. There is just no grounds to any of it. Ian is our manager. We are very happy for Ian to be our manager.

“We all have a great working relationship and we’re focused on one thing: the retention of our status in the league. We are very happy with the direction the club is going, very happy with the way he manages the side - the lads are all behind him at the training ground. I regularly go down to the training ground; there is no problem at all.”

He added: “Ian wants to stay here and build something.

“Right now we couldn’t be more together as a group of people and couldn’t be more focused on the goals that we’ve got.”